Tech Reports

ULCS-07-024

Command Dialogues

Katie Atkinson, Rod Girle, Peter McBurney and Simon Parsons

Abstract

We propose a formal representation of imperatives in computational systems, and a multi-agent dialogue
protocol to argue over these. Our representation
treats a command as a presumptive argument for an action to be executed by a designated
agent, together with a set of associated critical questions whose answers
may defeat the presumption. The critical questions enable the identification of attacks
on the uttered command, and so can be used to specify a dialogue game protocol
for participants to argue over the command. We present a formal syntax for part
of the protocol, called CDP, and outline denotational semantics for both commands
and for the protocol.

For each technical report listed here, copyright and all intellectual property rights remain with the respective authors. Copyright is effective from the year of publication in each case. By downloading a file from this page, you agree to use it only for purposes of research and scholarship. Any other use of this material or storage of it in any medium or its sale or distribution in any form is expressly forbidden without prior written permission from the authors concerned.